Christmas
by Maripose
Summary: Scully spends Christmas Eve at Mulder's.


Mulder paced across his living room one more time before shooting a glare at Langly, who was happily watching him from the couch, "You could help Byers!"

Byers huffed from the corner he was in, "Not a chance. I know exactly how I want this tree to look. I'm going to make it perfect, he'll only mess it up!"

Langly smiled and leaned back, putting his hands behind his head in a relaxing gesture and put his feet up on the coffee table, "He's right you know, I will. The little nark knows me so well."

Byers shot Langly a scathing look as Mulder huffed and walked off into the kitchen, "Please tell me everything's fine in here Frohike, my nerves are shot to hell as is." Frohike kept his back to Mulder, not even bothering to turn to face him, continuing his work on the mashed potatoes that were on the stove, "All quiet on the Western Front here boss. The food won't be the reason, if she rejects you. Which she won't, because that woman is crazy about you. She's followed you to the ends of the Earth. Hell, she even let you take a shot at her with a loaded gun. She loves you. Calm yourself. She'll say yes to being your girlfriend."

Frohike's assurance brought a smile to Mulder's dace, the stress seeming to leave his body slightly before he tensed back up at the crash of glass on wood.

Mulder bolted to the sitting room with Langly and Byers as Byers let out a whine, "I told you not to mess with it Langly! Why do you have to ruin everything!"

Frohike sighed from inside the kitchen, "Hey, if she says no, maybe I'll just ask her." Frohike smiled as he heard a loud huff from the other room.

"I heard that Frohike! I have the ears of an F.B.I. man, don't you forget it!"

"More like the ears of a FOX!" Cried Langly from the opposing room before a smack was heard and Langly began to whine, "You didn't have to hit my head man!"

Mulder turned away from his now closed door after saying goodbye to his three friends. They had helped him. A lot. Frohike making the essential Christmas Dinner, while Byers had decorated the now stunning fake tree with ornaments and lights and garlands and had even gone so far as to get the thing to smell like real pine.

Langly had…Been Langly.

Mulder smiled, no way was Scully going to reject him. And the Lone Gunmen would definitely be a huge reason why.

They had made his small apartment look and smell like the perfect classic home during the holidays that Scully deserved, and was currently being deprived of due to Skinner's insistence that he needed his best two agents working in a case here in DC and not out celebrating Christmas with their families, or, in Mulder's case, at home alone dreaming of Scully.

He walked to his couch and took a seat, reaching for the remote to his TV.

Switching it on to some nameless black and white movie about Christmas, he sat back for few minutes before standing and shutting the movie off and beginning to pace.

He knew he should have waited to get ready closer to the time Scully was supposed to come. Now he had nothing to do but sit here and worry and wait for Scully to show up.

He amused himself for another twenty minutes, pacing, switching the TV on and off, even reading some case notes.

He got up from the couch, flipped the case file closed, and walked into the kitchen.

He opened a cabinet and got himself a glass, moving to the sink and filling it with water.

He unbuttoned the first button on his black dress shirt and began to drink the water, downing half of it and putting the glass into the sink.

He walked out of the kitchen and turned to look into the living room, looking at the tree. It really was beautiful, all lit up and glowing.

Scully was going to love it, and he was going to love the look on her face when she saw it.

As he was gazing at the tree, he was pulled from his musings by a knock on his door.

Mulder froze up, shoulders tight with tensions and let out a breath he hadn't been aware he had been holding, "Shit, she's here."

A giggle answered from the door, "Glad to know I'm wanted."

Mulder rushed to the door and unlocked it, flinging the door open.

He held his arms open wide in a welcoming gesture, forcing the woman in front of him to hug him if she wanted admittance to the warm apartment.

Scully stepped forward, a smile gracing her face as she leaned into Mulder's chest, wrapping one small arm around his waist.

Mulder hugged her back, resting his cheek against the crown of her head and inhaling her scent. She smelled like backed apples and cinnamon.

She pulled back from him and nudged her way into the apartment, Mulder closing the door behind her.

He reached out and laid his hand on the collar of her coat, "Here, let me take that for you." Scully smiled and slid one arm out of the coat, transferred the pie in her hand to her other hand, and slid the other arm out, "Thank you very much Fox. That's very gentlemanly of you."

He cringed slightly at the name and put her coat on his coatrack.

He turned back to see Scully staring at the tree, frozen in place, "My God Mulder, it's beautiful."

He smiled and walked forwards, slipping an arm around her shoulders, "Yeah, Byer really knows how to deck out a tree."

Scully perked up and looked to Mulder, "The boys are here?"

Scully's hopeful tone made Mulder falter, 'Great, she wants the guys here. So much for a romantic evening. Stupid stupid stupid.'

"No, they left after helping me set up, they had their own Christmas stuff to get to. I can call them if you want me to, they can spend Christmas with us." Mulder said with un-enthusiasm.

"Oh, no, that's fine. We never get to spend time, just us, and getting to relax. I was so happy you invited me over. Plus, you said you wanted to talk about something important right?" Scully was back to staring at the tree.

Mulder grabbed the pie she was holding and left her in the other room and went to start setting the food out on the table. He set the pie on the counter and set to work on the food.

As he was plating the last dish and setting it on the table, Scully rounded the corner and her eyes lit up at the sight of the food.

"Wow, Mulder, there's so much here! And it all smells so good!" Scully hurried to the table and sat down, Mulder went to grab a wineglass for her and opened the bottle he had picked when he heard the menu from Frohike.

"Yeah, the man sure has a talent for cooking." He poured a glass and set it in front of Scully, grabbing another glass to pour for himself.

He left the bottle on the counter and sat down across from Scully, "I am really glad you could come Scully. You're right, we never do get to see each other outside of work and cases and ridiculous situations."

Scully smiled and laid a hand on the table, palm up, "This is nice Mulder. I've missed you lately."

Mulder laid his larger hand in hers, giving the fingers a quick squeeze and looking into Scully's smiling face.

He knew now was the time. Say it, just, say it. Scully, I love you. You're all I think about. I want you to be mine. Please, please love me too.

Scully pulled her hand back after one more squeeze and clapped her hands together once, "Alright. It's eating time." She quickly began to dish out food for herself.

Mulder shook his head once to clear his thoughts and began to serve himself too.

They chatted over dinner, neutral topics; how her family was, cases, Skinner and The Gunmen. Normal things for the two agents.

Mulder had finished three glasses of wine before the end of dinner, not even beginning to feel tipsy.

Scully had finished one and a half, and was totally fine.

Mulder's nerves had calmed slightly, but with the end of dinner, his stomach churned again.

"Well, do you want to cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie?" Mulder asked and gave a suggestive wiggle to his eyebrows as he was washing off a few dishes.

Scully smiled at the man from the doorway where she had been looking at the tree. She leaned against the doorframe letting her arms hang down loose, exuding confidence, "Oh Mulder, you know I'm always ok with cuddling you."

Mulder let out a laugh then looked over at his partner in the doorway.

Scully had schooled her face into a serious look, only a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Unnoticeable, unless you saw her every day.

Or was, you know, in love with her.

Or the painful combination of both.

Mulder's heart clenched as he looked at the beautiful woman standing so near to him, so close, so accessible, all he had to do was talk. Just, fucking, say the words.

"Scully, I-" A glass shattered and hot water sloshed onto Mulder's feet, soaking his socks.

Scully rushed forward as Mulder took a quick step back, stepping onto glass and causing a sting to shoot from the heel of his foot straight to the base of his neck, "Oh Goddamnit!"

Scully pulled a chair over and ushered Mulder into it, "Shit, Mulder, are you ok?" She stood and shut the water off in the sink before grabbing some paper towels and crouching down to sop up some of the water on the floor.

Mulder looked down to the crouching woman and was going to tell her to let him handle that when he saw it, the most glorious thing, his Christmas Miracle.

Scully's cleavage.

And how glorious it was.

She must have been wearing a push up bra. He had never, in all his years with her, seen her tits look THAT amazing. He felt like he could spend at least an hour praising them and not even have to get them out of their lacy home.

Why lace? Because Mulder always loved a woman in lace.

And this was his mind.

And tits that amazing could ONLY be encased in lace.

Then Scully's eyes were looking into his, "Even injured, you can still take time out from being in pain to check me out. I'll take this as a compliment and go grab some peroxide and a band aide."

Mulder was going to protest again when he felt the stinging in his foot all over again. He looked down and saw that blood now soaked through the heel of his sock and had begun to drip onto his floor, "Oh. Awesome. This is clearly God telling me to shut up and give up."

Scully was back in his view holding tweezers, a little brown bottle of peroxide and a band aide, "Give up on what?" She set the items on the table and bent down to get the last paper towel from the floor.

"Where's your broom and dustpan?" Mulder pointed to a corner near the fridge, thanking Scully in his mind for not making him actually answer her earlier question.

Scully fetched the items and cleaned up the last of the glass before washing her hands and pulling up a chair across from Mulder.

She laid a dishtowel across her lap and tapped her knee, "Alright Mulder, foot up here."

He pulled off the blood soaked sock and dropped it on the floor, causing Scully to sigh, "I did just clean that you know."

Her partner smiled, ignoring the pain in his foot as he slid his chair farther back from her and raised his leg, letting his foot rest on the towel in her lap, "I'll clean it up next, don't worry honey."

Scully looked up at him from under her fringe before looking back to the foot, "Nab me a paper towel, will you?"

Mulder reached up and grabbed the roll on the counter, handing it to her.

"Thanks honey bear." Mulder cringed at the name.

It was almost worse than having her call him Fox.

He was wrenched from his thoughts by a searing pain in his heel and shooting up his leg, "Thank you for the warning there, partner."

Scully looked up at Mulder and smiled, "Anytime." She placed the tweezers and the long shard of glass on the table.

She opened the peroxide bottle and set it back down to tear off a sheet of paper towel, "Now, this should only hurt if you're a little child and don't know how to handle pain." She gave Mulder a severe look before splashing some peroxide onto the paper towel and touching it to the cut on his foot.

Mulder hissed in pain and his knee jerked, his foot sliding off the towel and making a streak down Scully's dress.

The woman stood up and quickly and looked down, "Not only are you a child, you got blood on my favorite dress."

She didn't look angry when Mulder looked up, an apology on his lips. In fact she was smiling.

Then she said the words Mulder had been dying to hear for years, "I'm going to go into your room and take this off."

Mulder put a hand on the table to get up, "No, no. Stay. Put the band aide on, I'll just grab one of your shirts and a pair of boxers."

Mulder smiled at her retreating back before quickly following her orders.

He picked his sock up from the floor and rinsed it off in his sink, stooping to quickly do a cursory clean-up of his floor, before hobbling over to his couch and sitting down.

Well, if Scully was dressing down, why shouldn't he?

He quickly undid the buttons on his button up black shirt and slid it off his shoulders, leaving him in a black undershirt and dress pants, slightly wet on the right cuff. He laid the shirt over the arm of the couch.

Scully came back out sat down next to Mulder, taking his left arm and sliding herself next to him, laying the arm on the back of the couch.

Mulder looked down to see her curl her legs beneath herself. She was wearing his grey shirt, the one he tried to wear whenever they got to see each other casually.

He had always suspected it was a favorite of hers.

Under that, she was wearing a pair of his boxers, a favorite of his truth to tell. She had bought them for him as a joke last Halloween.

They were black silk, with little bats on them.

She said they were spooky, just like him.

Damn, this woman really did have his heart on a string.

And he was ok with it.

He curled his arm around her shoulders and grabbed the remote from the arm of the couch on his right side.

Turning the TV on, he flipped around until he landed on the Sci-Fi channel, where they were having a Twilight Zone marathon.

Scully reached over and took the remote from Mulder, "I wanna watch this. I loved this show as a kid."

Mulder, only too happy to comply, just squeezed her shoulder and looked down to the woman curled into his side.

Ok. Now, this is it. Not is the time. Now or never. Move it or lose her. You can do it. NOW.

"Scully, I have something I want to say."

Scully leaned back from him and looked up, setting the remote on her thigh, "Sure Mulder, what's up?"

He took his arm from her shoulders and laid it on the back of the couch, shifting so that he could face her more.

"Look, Scully. I didn't just invite you here as friends. Over the past few years, you've come to mean everything to me. You're…My Touchstone. My world. God, I know I sound cheesey, but Scully, I love you." He rubbed a hand over his face, diverting his eyes to his lap.

"If you don't feel the same, we can pretend I never said anything. But I do Scully. I love you, more than just, friends. More than just partners. I love you so much, it kind of hurts in my chest a little."

He sighed and took his hand away from his face, steeling himself. "I just had to tell you, I was tired of not saying anything."

He looked up, and she was there.

He felt her lips on his, her thigh slide between his leg and the couch as she slid her way onto his lap.

He felt her hands wrap around his shoulders, the kiss continuing.

He slid his hands up her back to rest against her shoulder blades, one sliding over her chest slightly, grazing a nipple to slip behind her neck and rest at the base of her skull.

She pulled away to look Mulder in the eye, "I've been waiting for you to say something for a while now. Glad you finally did." And then she was kissing him again.

As the kissing progressed to light groping, Scully with her hands under Mulder's shirt, lightly touching and sliding her hands along the planes of his stomach and chest, Mulder's hands had slid to the small woman's ass, cupping and kneading the silk encased flesh.

Scully let small whimpers and moans escape and Mulder ate them up, only breaking the kiss occasionally to say one or two words or to take quick nibbles at each other's necks.

Scully finally pulled back from Mulder and slid her hands out from under his shirt, "Mr. Mulder, I think you should definitely take me off to your room now. I've been waiting long enough."

Mulder released a growl and leaned forward to nip at Scully's neck.

He settled her in his lap and slid forward, putting both feet flat on the ground.

He pulled back from the small woman's neck, "Scully, wrap your legs around my waist."

Quickly catching onto what Mulder had planned, Scully did, and lockers her ankles behind his, resting her heels on the small of his back.

Mulder put one hand on the back of the couch and braced himself for the pain in his right heel.

Keeping one hand firmly on Scully's ass, he pushed himself up, Scully still attached to him, arms around his neck, legs wrapped around his waist.

Once standing, he put both hands onto Scully's ass and kissed her before walking off to his room, kicking the door shut behind him.

A.N.

Not sure if this is going to be a one shot, but bam. How was that? This is the longest thing I've written! I feel so proud! Please let me know what you think, and if you liked it! If you want me to continue, tell me!

Much love~!

Maripose

Soundtrack:

Songs About Jane – Maroon 5

It Won't Be Soon Before Long – Maroon 5

Shootenanny! – Eels

Hospice – The Antlers


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